ANTIOXIDANTS SUPPLEMENTATION BASED ON NATURAL PRODUCTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE THERMAL SKIN INJURY

Abstract

Thermal injuries are a major medical, economic and social problem, whose severity, morbidity, mortality, prognosis and treatment outcome directly depend on the surface and depth of the burn, but also on the patient's age, health status and accompanying complications. The treatment of thermal injury is long and complex, and the outcome is often uncertain with a very complex rehabilitation process, because the injury damages both physical and psychological health. Constant innovations in the protocol of medical treatment and the search for new mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of burns can be helpful in successful treatment. Therefore, there is a constant search for adjuvant therapies that will improve results like HBO, AO, platelet- rich plasma, negative pressure wound therapy and others. In recent years, the application of antioxidants as adjuvant therapy for the care and treatment of wounds has been the subject of various researche. Antioxidants are biologically active molecules that prevent the creation of free radicals in the body and at the same time neutralize the existing ones, this way participating in maintaining the oxidative status at the desired level. Antioxidant -rich natural products may provide a solution to improve wound healing. The application of antioxidant therapy has shown numerous benefits in improving the outcome of burns. However, more information is needed from the clinical trials on the use of natural products, especially in combination with other therapies. Keywords: thermal skin injury, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, antioxidant rich natural products